Supergirl adds Adrian Pasdar, Carl Lumbly, and more in season 3

During the show’s Comic-Con panel on Saturday, it was announced that Adrian Pasdar, Carl Lumbly, Yael Grobglas, and Emma Tremblay have joined the cast of The CW’s super-series.

Heroes alum Pasdar will play charismatic capitalist Morgan Edge, a ruthless real estate developer who will stop at nothing to get what he wants (and what he feels he deserves). The DC villain’s big plans for National City instantly put him at odds with Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath).

Lumbly (Alias) will play classic DC character M’yrnn J’onzz, the father of J’onn J’onnz, the Martian Manhunter (David Harewood). A pacifist religious leader on Mars, M’yrn pushes his son in unexpected ways. Lumbly actually voiced the Martian Manhunter on the Justice League animated series.

Jane the Virgin‘s Grobglas will play DC character Psi, a psychic villain who uses people’s own minds against them. Psi’s agenda puts her on Supergirl’s radar, and their meeting will affect the Girl of Steel in surprising ways.

Tremblay (Elysium) will play Ruby, a smart, independently minded National City kid who’s fascinated by Supergirl and ends up in jeopardy because of it.

The quartet joins the previously cast Odette Annable, who will play word killer villain Reign, a bioengineered experiment from Krypton.

Here are more big highlights and revelations from the Supergirl panel:

Supergirl has given up on Kara: In the wake of Supergirl being forced to unleash lead into the atmosphere, forcing Mon-El to leave Earth, Kara is feeling very guilty and therefore is pretty much shunning her human side when the show returns. “The first two seasons, she’s been trying the scales of balancing Kara Danvers and Supergirl and figuring out her identity,” Melissa Benoist said. “Now where we pick up in season 3, the scale is leaning very heavily on Supergirl. I think that’s how she’s dealing with this grief of sending her boyfriend into a chasm in space.” With Mon-El gone, Kara will be much more reliant on herself moving forward. “From what I’ve seen so far, she really is trusting herself and only herself right now and obviously relying on her friends, but she’s been pretty self-reliant so far, which is nice,” Benoist said.

Where has Mon-El gone? After Mon-El’s pod got knocked off course, it appears he went to the Phantom Zone, but Chris Wood stayed mum. “He was in a pod, and it was in space,” Wood jokes. But executive producer Robert Rovner did give a little hope: “Chris is here and Mon-El will return at some point, but how he does is one of the central mysteries of season 3.” As for whether Kara and Mon-El’s relationship can survive after the events of the finale, Wood said, “The big thing is going to be what actually happens to Mon-El.” Adds EP Jessica Queller: “The circumstances would dictate that.”

What does it mean to be human? Kara is not the only one trying to find herself next season. “The theme of season 2 really was can Kara have it all — love, work as a journalist, superhero saving the world,” Queller said. “The theme of season 3 is ‘What does it mean to be human?’ and all of those characters will be exploring that question, especially Kara.”

Check out Erica Durance: The Smallville alum will replace Laura Benanti as Kara’s late mother, Alura, this season. And we spotted her in the new trailer.

Team Guardian lives: James will still be suiting up as Guardian next season and playing a bigger role on Team Supergirl, but he’ll also get back to his roots as well. “We have amazing things in store for James,” Queller said. “He’s going to have a new love interest. He’s going to step up at CatCo back to his roots as a journalist and photographer in a way that we haven’t seen him do fully that harkens back to Jimmy Olsen’s character.” Winn, meanwhile, is still with Lyra. “Lyra and Winn are still together. They’re still dating, they’re still going strong,” Jeremy Jordan said.

What’s next for Sanvers: “Most of you know that Floriana is not able to return for the whole season, but that said, we have an amazing, beautiful story to tell in her remaining episodes that is emotional and modern and really honors the love between these two women,” Queller said. “She’s always welcome back to our show whenever she’s available.” Alex, meanwhile, will be weighing her relationship “against her work in the DEO and struggle with managing those two sides of her life,” Rovner said.

Reign’s big plans: Odette Annable’s new character is not your typical villain. “She left Krypton and now is on earth,” Annable said. “The thing that’s so great and so different about this villain, as opposed to season 1 and 2, is she has a very specific agenda. She’s not out to kill everyone she sees, and she’s not out to rule the earth. She has her own reasons for dispensing her justice that will unfold throughout the season.”

Will Lena find out the truth? If Katie McGrath had it her way, she would never find out. “I kind of like not knowing,” the actress said, applauding the relationship between Lena and Kara, but, “she doesn’t have to be the superhero with Lena, she can be just human.” If she were to find out the truth, Lena wouldn’t be mad that Kara is an alien, but, “I think she will have a problem with the fact that her best friend lied to her and another person who didn’t trust a Luthor.” McGrath hopes Lena’s relationship expands to the rest of the cast of characters. “I’m interested to see when Alex is thrown in the mix,” McGrath said. “Both of us care about Kara’s well being, but Alex is probably slightly distrustful of a Luthor.”

More Martians: Harewood would love to see M’Gann come back as a love interest, but in the meantime, we’ll see an interesting father-son relationship with the introduction of J’onn’s father. “It’s not an easy one,” Harewood said. “There’s going to be some complications. J’inn always thought he was the last Green Martian, so it’s going to be extraordinary to find that not only is he not the last Green Martian, but the other one is his father.”

New suit: Benoist has heard rumors that there could be some changes in store. “[EP Andrew Kreisberg] wanted to do a change that involved something very different, but I loved my suit,” Benoist said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

Kara’s job: Despite Kara starting to give up on the Kara side of her life, Benoist claims CatCo will still be very important this season. “Her relationship with CatCo is always up and down, and I think we’ll continue seeing that,” Benoist said. “She wouldn’t be who she is without being a reporter.”